


Fighting Words

by RowanSparrow



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fist Fights, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, Post-Episode: s04e07 Darkness on Umbara, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 16:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14359662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowanSparrow/pseuds/RowanSparrow
Summary: Tup gets in a fight in 79s. Rex and Fives come to the rescue.





	Fighting Words

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt on Tumblr.

Tup threw another punch, feeling the satisfying blow of his fist cracking against the other man’s chin.“You think it’s funny, bastard?” He asked, wiping the blood off of his own chin. “YOU THINK IT’S KARKIN’ FUNNY TO JOKE ABOUT THAT SHIT?!” 

A crowd had gathered around the two brawling soldiers, the usual chatter of 79s drowned out by jeers and cheers. 

“C’mon, boys, rough him up a bit, show him who’s boss!” One of the clones  outside the circle shouted. At that command, two other men, presumably from the same battalion, ran towards Tup. Tup effortlessly lifted the first man over the bar, tossing him aside like he was nothing, but wasn’t quick enough to dodge the second. The second soldier leapt on Tup, pinning him down against the bar. Tup threw his hands up to protect himself, to no avail as punch after punch slammed into his body and face. 

Through the brutal onslaught of punches, a familiar ARC Trooper shoved his way through the crowd of onlookers. Fives grabbed the soldier pummeling Tup, hauled him off of Tup and threw him to the ground. “Break it up, _break it up!”_

The solider Tup had tossed behind the bar was back on his feet, grabbed Tup around the neck and pulled him back behind the bar. Tup growled, sending his fist flying right into the man’s face. Meanwhile, the other two men had recovered, and a third trooper joined the fight. Fives held them at bay, unleashing expletive after expletive as he tossed each of them around, reaching to help Tup only to be corralled away by the soldiers he was dealing with. Fives finally delivered a swift kick to one of the soldiers square in the face, knocking him out cold, and the other backed off long enough for Fives to leap behind the bar, snatch the clone fighting Tup by the scruff of his shirt and lift him into the air, prepared to throw him down onto the counter-. 

“That’s _enough_.” Complete and utter silence bathed the room as Captain Rex entered, a dangerous look in his eyes. Tup swung himself over the bar, spat blood onto the floor at Rex’s feet.

“Hello, sir.” He drawled. 

Nobody had to speak. A simple tilt of Rex’s head was all it took, and two 501st troopers were coming forward out of the crowd to deal with the other injured troopers while Rex dealt with his men. 

“With me.” He snarled. _“Now.”_

“Yes sir.” Fives answered automatically, shooting Tup a look as the two of them started forward after the Captain. 

“You don’t belong here!” One of the soldiers on the ground bellowed, his voice stuffy with blood pouring from his nose. “You should be rotting in that cell with the other one. How can you defend him?!” 

Tup unleashed a primal roar, whipping around and delivering a sharp kick right to the soldier’s already brutalized face. 

“Tup - _Tup!_ Leave it! Leave it alone!” Fives shouted, lifting Tup off the ground and pinning him to his chest. Tup kicked his legs out, flailing helplessly in Fives’s arms. 

“Say it again, Sithfucker!” Tup screamed, swinging his fists and kicking his feet without any real target in mind. “I’ll kill you! _I’ll kill you!_ ” 

“Get him out of here!” Rex ordered, leading the ARC Trooper out of 79s, Tup still clasped against his chest. Tup felt his chest rise and fall heavily, until finally he went limp against Fives, his breathing reduced to nothing but ragged, gasping sobs. 

~

Kix bent down in front of Tup, wordlessly tilting the yonger _vod’s_ chin up as Kix gently cleaned his wounds. Fives sat a few feet away, already sporting the beginnings of a black eye. Rex had already chewed him out, though when Fives explained he was trying to _stop_ the fight, Rex’s anger seemed to dissipate a bit. Faded, certainly, but a certain tiredness creased his face. It aged him and yet somehow made him look young as he turned his gaze towards Tup, gently nudging Kix out of the way and taking his place, running the wet cloth across the blood caked to Tup’s face. 

“You gonna tell me what the kriff that was about?” 

There was no anger in his voice, just emptiness. Tup thought he preferred the anger.

“It isn’t like this is the first time I’ve gotten into a fight.”He scoffed, turning his face away from Rex. Rex grabbed his chin roughly, forced his face back to him. Tup could almost hear Dogma chiding him.  _  
_

_“You can’t talk to the Captain like that, Tup.”_

_Shut up._ _  
_

Still, Dogma tacked on a ‘sir’. Rex’s expression remained unchanged. 

“Talk to me, Tup.” 

Kix stepped away, instead busying himself fretting over Fives, giving Tup and Rex their space. 

“They-.” His voice cracked, and Tup drew a sharp breath, willed his voice to harden. “They were talking about Umbara.” 

Rex’s hand stilled, and Tup saw Fives’s eyes flicker upward for a moment, alight with fresh righteous fury, before Kix very pointedly stepped in his line of sight. 

“I see.” Rex murmured, resuming the motions with his hand. “And that… upset you?” 

“It was more than that!” Tup snapped, his voice cracking again. He forged on. “They - it wasn’t just Umbara… they were talking about - about the fight. They said D-.” _Say his name, you coward._ “They said D-Dogma… it was his fault. He betrayed all of us.” 

A storm of emotion washed across Rex’s face, and Tup watched each one cloud his features, cataloguing them in his memory: Pain, remorse, hurt… guilt?

“Tup,” Rex’s voice was gentle now, one hand cupping his cheek while the other continued cleaning his wounds. “What happened on Umbara… that wasn’t Dogma’s fault. It was Krell. It was _all_ Krell.” 

A long pause. Rex shifted his hands to hold Tup’s, cleaning the blood off his knuckles while kneading soft, reassuring presses into his palms. 

“If somebody’s going to blame a brother, they should be blaming _me.”_ _  
_

“Rex.” Fives’s voice was warning, and Kix pinched him on the ear, hushing him.

“Captain, none of us blame you, you know that.” Tup murmured back. 

“Dogma got -.” Rex couldn’t bring himself to say _decommissioned_. “Dogma got taken away because I didn’t have the guts to pull the trigger. He took the fall. It should have been me.” 

“Dogma did what was right.” Tup answered firmly. “He saved us all.” He wrapped a hand around Rex’s neck, gently pulled him forward to press their foreheads together. “Don’t keep blaming yourself, sir.” 

Rex smiled softly, pulled back from Tup. He mopped up the last of the blood, bandaged the wounds. “Keep out of trouble, soldier. If you want to beat somebody, up, hit Fives.” 

“Excuse me?” Fives blurted. Tup laughed, and squeezed Rex’s hand. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm @rowansparrow-writing on Tumblr! Come say hi!


End file.
